First, it strikes me that my calendar system worked so differently (so many more layers) then than it does now.

There was the physical Daytimer, which I could open to see the (handwritten) month at a glance.

Or the daily page where I could write details of the day as they unfolded:

Or the detailed "addendum" that listed all the spillover from my electronic calendar (that's how I knew (importantly) that I had bunco that night):

And I should add that I did this for a long time, until we had Blackberries and Outlook at my office and I stopped printing out any type of hard copy calendar. The proof is in the binders:

Two observations come out of this exercise:

1) I think I organized myself better when I had more interplay between electronic and paper. I don't have all these sheets of paper now. I am a "paper" girl at heart, even though I have learned to embrace electronics.

2) I miss bunco. The thing I miss most is the camaraderie -- seeing the same 11 women at least once a month, keeping up with each other's lives, enjoying good food and wine -- and not worrying about our day-to-day issues. (Our group ended up disintegrating and I have not found another group, but I do get to sub at other groups occasionally.)

Other thoughts about this time in my life: a) I still needed a babysitter because the kids were 5 and 2. Now I can leave them home alone. I miss Char, the awesome babysitter, but not the need (or cost) of having a sitter; b) I was still getting my acrylics filled in every two weeks (that luxury has been victim to the family budget downsizing). It was fun to have great nails at bunco and to talk about the colors (one favorite was "I'm not really a waitress" red); c) We still had a maid, also an expense that has since been cut, and something I miss the most; d) the haircut I got on that date was undoubtedly scheduled so that I would have good hair for bunco (and I still go to the same stylist now!); e) I am still working at the same place (and I have some hard thinking to do about what to do with the next 10 years, professionally).